Police blotter, week of March 20, 2014

A burglar hit a Tribeca jewelry store overnight between March 13 and 14 and made off with nearly $20,000 worth of merchandise — and it may have been due to a faulty door, police said.

The owner of Cass Lilien jewelry, at 24 Harrison St., discovered the crime after opening up the store — which sits below three stories of residential units — around noon on March 14. Nine items — including a $15,000 bangle, necklaces and other pieces — were gone, she told cops. The woman also said that both her store’s front door and the door to the rest of the building were locked when she arrived, and police who responded to the scene said there were no signs of forced entry.

But during the investigation, residents of the building told police that the building’s main door doesn’t always close properly.” Cops said they dusted for fingerprints at the scene but couldn’t make any identification, and no video is available from the store itself, although they may be able to use footage from a camera located outside a building across the street.

Smashed his way in

Another Tribeca burglary took place in a drug store early on March 16 — but there were no questions about how the thief got inside for that one, according to police. Video footage taken from the Prime Essentials drug store, at 345 Broadway, showed a man using a piece of metal pipe to smash the bottom of the shop’s glass front door around 1:30 a.m., police said. The burglar then kicked out the rest of the lower portion of the glass and crawled inside, after which he jumped over a counter and hit three cash registers, according to the footage.

The perp made off with a total of $540 before fleeing the scene and running north on Broadway, and he has still not been identified although an investigation is ongoing, police said.

Thieves take the A train

Two subway riders were recently targeted by sneaky thieves while taking the A train past the Canal St. station — but one of the suspects was caught and arrested, police said.The first incident was on March 7, which took place after a woman initially got on a northbound train at Jay St. in Brooklyn, heading back to her home in Harlem. She told cops that she’d sat down and placed her purse on her lap — and once the train reached Canal St., she felt a tug on the bag, although she never actually saw anyone rifle through it.

It was only when she exited the train at W. 145th St. that she realized that her wallet — containing her debit card, her daughter’s Social Security card, her work payroll check for $871 and another $20 in cash — was gone. The woman told cops that she later learned from her employer that the payroll check was cashed by an unauthorized person on March 17.

The next incident took place on March 12, when another woman got on a southbound A train at W. 42nd St., police said. During the ride, she was holding her cell phone and texting — and as the train pulled into Canal St. and the doors opened, a 17­-year-­old male reportedly snatched the phone, dashed out and jumped onto an E train that had just arrived across the platform, police said.

But the victim, aided by two bystanders — a young man and woman — chased the teen onto the other train, where they were able to corner him and alert transit employees of the crime. Moments later, the incident was reported to police, and the suspect was apprehended at the next stop. He was charged with grand larceny.

Unattended bag woes

One woman had to learn the hard way about the dangers of leaving property unattended, after her wallet was reportedly stolen from a Financial District bar on March 15.

The victim, 24, told cops that she was was having a drink inside Ulysses’, at 59 Pearl St., around 4 p.m., and had placed her handbag on top of the bar. She later got up to use the bathroom, but left the bag behind, and when she returned minutes later, she found that the wallet — containing her debit and credit cards and Social Security card, among other items — had been snatched up. There were no witnesses, and no descriptions of a suspect, police said.